Non desistas Non exieris
by evelitan
Summary: Mallus makes a decisive move that turns out to be the beginning of the end and the Legends have to travel back to Pompeii to prevent it (yes, 79 AD Pompeii). A certain time bureau agent will join the team of course, but not in the way they expected and a certain "skinny brit in a trench coat" (or two) will make an appearance too.
1. Chapter 1

Non desistas. Non exieris

 _AN: Hi guys! So before the CW decides to break another strong women couple, I decided to have some fun and scribble a little. As I said, before we learn shockingly that Ava is Rip's daughter or Sara's descendant or Mallus' reincarnation or a robot (I can't really put anything past the CW). The events in this fic take place after the interrupted date and before the kiss, if you've seen the episode you'll definitely know where it starts from. I'm thinking of making it 2 or 3 chapters max, but I'd love to know what you think. Just like usual, in my fics, accurate historic details and completely fictional statements are intertwined for the sake of the story, so keep that in mind when you read. Thank you for all of your kudos and comments, they mean the world to me. Enjoy!_

 _Summary: Mallus makes a decisive move that turns out to be the beginning of the end and the Legends have to travel back to Pompeii to prevent it (yes, 79 AD Pompeii). A certain time bureau agent will join the team of course, but not in the way they expected and a certain "skinny brit in a trench coat" (or two) will make an appearance too._

 _***Present moment***_

"So, should I call you Director Sharpe now? It does have a nice ring to it." – Sara teased, making Ava laugh.

"Honestly, I still can't fully believe it. Everything happened so quickly." – Ava said seriously, sitting down on the green grass.

It wasn't even a full week since Director Bennet was killed and the chaos in the Time Bureau was only intensifying, despite Ava's best efforts to stabilize things. Budget meetings, regulations procedures, safety checks, agent training and recruitment, alliance treaties meetings… all these were just a part of Ava's new responsibilities and with virtually no sleep and excessive amounts of coffee, she was barely keeping it together. Not to mention that being a Director of the Time Bureau didn't leave much time for anything else, let alone playing dress up with the Legends.

"Hey." – Sara said softly and turned Ava's chin to face her…

 _**** 4 days earlier***_

"… This is pointless! We should've never tried to be normal, I'm not normal alright? And I'm never gonna be normal and I'm not gonna be normal for anyone!" – Sara yelled. It was the first time the captain was genuinely pissed at Ava and that made the agent feel weird, weird in the bad way.

Ava was just as pissed as Sara, but the moment the shorter blonde started talking about being normal Ava wondered where that had come from. She never wanted Sara to be normal, Sara wouldn't be Sara if she was normal.

"I don't…" – Ava opened her mouth so speak, but a portal opening interrupted her.

"Of all things on this earth I hate time traveling the most!" – Sounded an offended male voice, dripping with British accent, but not the one they were all used to with Rip Hunter.

"Come on now, we don't have time for fussing." – Rip stepped on board from behind him and made a step towards Sara when he realized that she wasn't alone.

"Captain Lance, we have some urgent… Ah agent Sharpe." – For a second there, Rip didn't know whether he should run for the hills or stay where he was and deal with the situation, but running never solved anyone's problems after all.

"Director Hunter?! What are _you_ doing here? You should be in handcuffs!" – Ava yelled, but didn't move from where she was.

"Rip…" – Sara said between gritted teeth, if she was annoyed and angry before, she was downright furious now.

"Hello again, love." – The second brit in long trench coat greeted the captain, stepping aside from where he was standing behind Rip.

"Constantine?"

"Love?"

Sara and Ava asked in the same time, both confused, both bewildered and again, both more furious than before. This scale of furious was becoming too short for what they were actually feeling. Ava was puzzled at first, but then the pieces of the puzzle she didn't want to think about clicked in her mind, making her slightly flinch in disgust. Because let's be real, how many reasons would a person have to call someone "love" and look at them as if their clothes were made from papyrus, ready to be tore apart just by looking.

"What are you doing here?" – Sara asked while looking between Rip and Constantine, realizing she should've been more specific, but she didn't have time to waste on them while she was in the middle of an argument with Ava.

"The question goes for both of you." – Captain Lance added.

"Well we have information on what the Darhks are currently trying to do and it is not good." – Rip tried to explain looking at Ava, trying to decipher the look in her eyes. He wasn't sure what she'd like more in this moment, shoot him or handcuff him. Of course, Ava always did things by the book, there was no doubt she'd take him back to the Time Bureau, but the urge to shoot him wasn't something to be underestimated.

"What he is trying to say is, your daemon, Mallus has found a way to mess up the timeline even more and thus to finally break history and escape his prison this time." – Constantine tried to talk.

"I don't know if you haven't noticed, but we are in the middle of a mission right now." – Sara interrupted him.

"If I remember correctly you had no problem multitasking miss Lance." – Constantine teased, but Ava just rolled her eyes and decided to step out.

"I don't even want to know what all this is about." – Ava said and it was a good thing that telling lies in the real world didn't make your nose grow.

"Captain Lance, please abstain from damaging the timeline even more, I'm going back to the Time Bureau to organize a team, if what your… " _sources"_ …are saying is true, we'll need more than a few vigilantes playing heroes to fight Mallus." – Ava said and opened a portal to her office, but just before she took a step through, she turned to Rip with a dangerous look in her eyes.

"I wasn't here, I never saw you. This is the only extended curtesy you get from me, for everything you've taught me… Next time I see you, you're not walking away Director Hunter." – Ava added and went through the portal not even caring if he answered back.

At this point she didn't know which betrayal hurt her the most, Rip, her mentor, the person who helped her become what she was sacrificing all those agents or Sara who played with her feelings while shagging a brit in a brown trench coat. Technically speaking, Sara and her hadn't even gone on a date and it was illogical to be angry at Sara for something like that, but anger wasn't always rational and love… love was never logical.

Back on the Waverider, Sara was experiencing an awful headache all of a sudden. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down, there was no use in thinking about her argument with Ava now, there was nothing more she could do at the moment and judging by the worried looks of the bickering men in front of her, she had bigger problems on her plate.

"We claim this ship as ours…" – A pirate with a dozen more men from his crew stepped on the Waverider when Ray and Nate forgot to close the portal.

Just what Sara needed, voluntary punching bags to get her frustrations out, it was even better than an aspiring for her headache.

"Ladies, if you're done with your squabbling, I suggest you grab a weapon and help me defend the Waverider before these buffoons damage it even more." – Sara said and ran to the table where her batons were, out of all the weapons she had held over the years, the batons were the ones she felt most comfortable with.

The fight between the pirates and the time travelers wasn't even a tense one, Sara kicked most of their butts on her own, while the two brits were still trying their best with two of the crew members.

The moment the rest of the team set foot on the ship they time jumped back to the temporal zone and after all the emotions from the day, after a quick debrief of the situation, they all decided it was best to get some sleep and regroup early tomorrow.

"Come on Amaya, it was a long day." – Zari urged the other woman to their rooms, Amaya was blaming herself for losing her totem and things had become much more difficult.

"Trench coats." – Mick grunted in the background and walked away, nobody really knew if that was a greeting of sorts or just an observation.

"Sara we should talk." – Said Constantine after all of the others had gone to their rooms.

"We just lost another totem to Darhk, the time ship is wrecked and barely floating, one of my teammates was almost taken hostage, the only time bureau agent who was willing to help us is pissed at us and I'm barely standing from exhaustion, so if it's not a question of life or death it can wait six hours, Constantine." – Sara said and the rest of the team that was still standing around dispersed.

"Ok, it can wait." – Answered Constantine, not wanting to anger Sara even more.

"But you're wrong, love. The agent in question is pissed at _you_ not at your team and we both know that." - He added and walked away, leaving Sara to her thoughts and a glass of whiskey in her office.

One of the advantages on being on board a time ship was that the passage of time was almost impossible to feel, sometimes a year could seem as short as a week and others a day stretched into a whole month in their minds.

Around six in the morning, (if the clock in Sara's office could be trusted) a strong time quake accompanied by loud and insistent alarm sounded all over the Waverider and Sara jumped from her chair where she had drifted off with an empty glass to her side.

 _BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP_

In a matter of seconds, each one of the legends and their guests arrived to the captain's office.

"What's going on?" – Ray asked shouting because everyone had their hands over their ears to try and block the annoyingly loud sound of the alarm.

"Gideon, stop the alarm please!" – Shouted Sara and the AI barely registered the order.

"I am sorry captain, but that was a level 12 alert." – The worried voice of Gideon sounded through the speakers the second the annoying high pitched alarm went quiet.

They hadn't really experienced such a thing until now, sure they helped with some level ten anachronisms, but a level 12 time quake was something new (usually it never went higher than a 7 even with a level 9 anachronism behind it). The green waves of the temporal zone around them began stretching and small tearing appeared. Not big enough to damage time itself, but enough to make everyone blink a few times and panic a little on the inside.

"Gideon what just happened?" – Sara asked worried.

"We experienced a very strong time quake that teared though the fabric of time, something big happened and changed history to a crucial point of no return and time couldn't handle the sudden change." – Offered Gideon before Rip interrupted her.

"If we don't hurry and solve this anachronism the tearing is only going to get worse, the fabric of time stretches throughout infinity, imagine what the consequence of a single fissure would be." – Rip blurred.

"So, when did this time quake originated from?" – Asked Amaya, leaning completely on Zari for support, their connection may have started because of the totems, but they had grown very close lately. At this point nobody knew if they were dating or they were just amazingly close friends, they each always seemed to search for a physical contact from the other and felt comforted by it. Even now, Zari had managed to calm Amaya enough for her to concentrate on the problem at hand and not think about losing her own totem.

"Pompeii 24 August, 79 AD." – Gideon said ever so calmly and Nate gulped audibly, his eyes getting bigger and bigger with the realization of said date.

 _TBC…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II: Play nice**

 _AN: Hi guys! You've been amazing with your feedbacks and support for the story, so here's the second chapter. I'll update again around the weekend. I am trying to build some plot apart from the story between Ava and Sara and I still haven't seen the new episode so I don't know what idiocy the CW managed to come up with to hurt Ava and Sara, but in my fic things are different. The next chapter we'll have a new character joining the story, so stay around. I can't wait to know what you think about this one though, enjoy!_

 _Summary: The legends arrive at Pompeii and it's time to see how everything started._

...

"Pompeii 24 August, 79 AD." – Gideon said.

"Pompeii?" – Asked Zari.

"Wait, that name sounds familiar, but not in the good way." – The younger totem barer was trying to figure out where she knew the name from.

"As it should, especially the date, August the 24th, 79 AD…" – Nate repeated and expected someone to join in on his train of thoughts, but when nobody said a word, he continued with a slightly unnerving enthusiasm.

"Oh come on people, Pompeii, Vesuvius erupting? Wow you really need to brush on your ancient history."

"Ah, yes… as I said, not good." – Zari commented happy at first to have remembered, but her smile quickly turned into a frown and Sara rolled her eyes.

"Finally, something exciting!" – Mick grinned, actually grinned.

"Excuse my partner; he's just eager for the flames." – Snart hurried to excuse Rory with his normal ever so blaze tone of voice. He was used to him and his way of thinking after knowing him all this time.

"But wasn't that eruption part of the _normal_ history?" – Ray said, trying to ignore Mick's unnerving enthusiasm to go see a live volcano. THE volcano everyone had heard about.

"Only this time my system found an irregularity, according to the archives Caligula himself led the _Vulcanalia_ ceremony the previous days." – Said Gideon.

"Well that's not right." – Added Nate surprised and everyone turned their attention to him again.

"Caligula was emperor from 37 to 41 AD, Vesuvius eruption was in 79 AD, Caligula should've been long since dead by that time. He dies at 28, historically speaking he didn't make it to 67 to see the eruption of mount Vesuvius." – Nate elaborated.

"This is what we wanted to warn you about, Captain Lance." – Constantine spoke up.

"Caligula played God during a very dangerous time period. Even though he was a descendant from the great emperor Augustus himself, the dead of his family left him deeply perturbed, he even went as far as to replace some of the stone heads of the gods' statues with his own image." – Nate added again.

"The Darhks got to Caligula when he went to visit his uncle on the island of Capri, we can't get to him there. If Caligula struck a deal with Mallus to become immortal and an actual god of the caliber of Jupiter and Janus it would explain how he survived his assassination." – Rip supplied.

"And in return, he sacrificed the people of Pompeii, Oplontis and Stabiae to Mallus. The energy of such a massive sacrifice could be the reason Mallus gained so much power at once and cause a fissure in time that can weaken his prison enough for him to break out." – Constantine explained.

"Fuck." – Sara said before she could stop herself and a few tense moments of silence passed by until the captain spoke again.

"Okay guys, this is serious, much more than everything we've seen and done so far. We cannot let this new history to cement itself or we lose the fight before it's even began. We have to go back to Pompeii and stop that little psychopathic maniac from sacrificing all these people to Mallus." – Sara said.

"Shouldn't we contact Ava and let her know all this, she and the Time Bureau could really help with their resources or at least provide back up." – Zari suggested.

"We'll talk with agent Sharpe when we know more about the situation and can give her details she can work with." – Sara dismissed the younger woman without sparing her a second glance, the moment she heard Ava's name, something stirred the sleeping anger in Sara.

"Gideon, plot a course to Pompeii, August 21st, 79 AD." – Said Sara and everyone took their positions, strapping in on the seats.

"Sara, we just said that the eruption was on the 24th." – Ray wondered as he strapped down on his seat.

"I need a couple of days to prepare the ritual needed to change the death of all these people so that it would not be used as a sacrifice. Caligula has no idea of the magnitude of the disaster that will follow, he doesn't know that he was just a means to an end, a puppet." – Constantine explained and the Waverider made its jump.

Pompeii was a beautiful city actually. Just as depicted by Pliny the Elder, the legends expected something beautiful, but the truth was that in person, Pompeii was much more, it was magnificent. It was a bit further away from the harbor, the piers and the sea that Sara imagined, but the city streets were brewing with life and excitement for the upcoming festivities.

The summers here were hot and the proximity to the sea made it a little difficult to breathe at first, but the team quickly got used to it. There were children running around, dressed in colorful clothes, jumping and talking vividly. Young women laughing while taking a stroll around the city, elderly people enjoying the preparations for the night…

The stones under her feet were so hot from the shining sun that Sara could feel the hotness from the souls of her sandals with every step she took.

"Okay, so where do we start from?" – Ray asked.

"Zari and Amaya you go to the temple of Vulcan, talk with the priests of the rituals that are going to take place in the next few days. Nate, you and Ray stay on the ship and work on that nanomite gun in case we need to use it on Nora or Caligula. You can join us tonight for the feast." – Sara added quickly when she saw the disappointed puppy looks on their faces.

"Sweet!" – Nate and Ray said in union.

"Rip, you, I and Constantine we're going to take a walk around and come up with a plan for when Caligula shows up."

"Rory and Snart… you guys can…" – Sara never really knew what task to order them when stealing something wasn't a priority in their mission, so she was glad they didn't need her to tell them what to do.

"We'll just chill and look around until you need us." – Rushed Snart, grabbing Mick by the arm and dragging him away from the group, mumbling something about on the armors of the centurions.

"Just don't get into any trouble!" – Shouted Sara in the distance.

"When have we ever?" – Replied Snart with a calm voice, but a devious smirk on his face.

"Every day, twice on Sundays." – Said Amaya over the coms and Sara laughed, the dark eyed woman was right.

"Guys, be on the lookout for Nora and her dad, we don't want them to see us yet." – Sara warned.

Everyone from team legends spent the day with their respective tasks, it wasn't difficult to blend in with the locals with the disguises Gideon had fabricated. Time passed quickly and at sundown the legends reunited in the Agora, waiting for the celebrations to start.

This mission was perhaps Rory's favorite so far, it had everything he wanted, fire breathers walking around the crowd, beautiful women dressed in little clothes, seemingly endless wine mixed with honey and some herbs… it wasn't his usual beer, but it was alcohol non the less.

The night was typically hot for the season and the skies were clear, then from the opposite end of the Agora a distinct drumming pattern could be heard and the gathered crown made way to the young women dancing in simple, long, white dresses. Each woman wore a crown of dry wigs intertwined with long monochrome ribbon, the ends of which carelessly floated around the women when they danced and turned.

A statue of Vulcan dressed in his divine penula was surrendered with all types of fruits from the fields surrounding the city. The nutrient properties of the volcanic soil provided excellent conditions for farming; it also gave work to a large part of the population of Pompeii.

"Stay close guys, the priests said that Caligula will appear after the statue of Vulcan had reached the other end of the Agora." – Amaya spoke over the coms.

"It's a good thing Gideon has an autopilot." – Rip murmured under his nose when he saw Sara pick up another cup of wine and Constantine only hummed and downed the rest of the wine in his own cup.

"Damn this thing is strong." – Constantine hissed as he downed his fifth cup of the night.

"It's a very popular mix in this era, the honey gives it a sweet flavor and the herbs intensify the tannin in the wine, making it drier to the taste, thus more appealing to keep drinking. To put it simply, it makes you drink more and feel the effects of the alcohol later." – Supplied Nate, spilling unnecessary facts in their ears.

The festival was strangely enjoyable for the team, though the fact that it had unlimited wine reserve also made the night better, the people around were dancing and laughing and even Sara was enjoying herself. She took a sip from her cup when suddenly her mind registered a familiar face in the crowd, she could recognize those deep blue eyes everywhere.

Ava was dressed as one of the women from the procession; her white gown was twirling in the wind and the light blue ribbon in her blonde tresses danced around her. Before Sara could think twice about it, she made her way to Ava and grabbed her by the elbow.

"What are you doing here?" – Sara asked trying to sound annoyed.

"A major time catastrophe originates from this time period and you think _your_ team is the _only one_ who noticed?" – Ava husked back while trying to maintain her smile, a public fight would not be advantageous for anyone. Even though the bureau had a strict politic when it came to interacting with the locals, Ava found it easier to gather accurate information that way and besides what the bureau didn't know it couldn't hurt them… right?

"We were going to call you when we had more information…" – The shorter blonde tried.

"Of course you would have. Because you have my number on speed dial and you play so well with others?"

"Aahh! Stop patronizing me!" – Sara was getting angry.

"Stop acting like a child then! Just because you're cute it doesn't give you the right to be a jerk." – Ava replied, obviously not talking about the situation at hand.

"I'm a jerk? An old friend…old… _acquaintance…"_ – Sara hesitated for a moment, not really sure what to call Constantine, he did save her life, but they weren't exactly going for brunch dates either.

" _Acquaintance_ shows up on the Waverider and suddenly you won't even talk to me." – The captain said.

"By the way, does your ex boss and current outlaw constitutes as an old friend/acquaintance or was that the other nemo who was looking at you as if you were standing there naked? Besides I've been busy. Some people actually have to work, _Miss Lance_." – Ava sounded annoyed, even she couldn't believe her excuse, but both women winced a little at the mentioning of "miss Lance", Sara thought they were past that point already.

"Miss Lance? _Seriously_ Ava? And are you really jealous of Constantine?" – Sara asked surprised and hurt.

"Look _we don't have time_ to do this now, we need to work together if we want to repair the fissure in time that Mallus created before things get much worse… and for the record I wasn't jealous." – Ava tried to go back to the situation at hand.

"And when would be the time then? Every time I try talking to you, Gary shows up with the most ridiculous excuse and whisks you away." – Sara shouted, but since the music around them was pretty loud too, nobody paid attention to them.

"You know what? You were right, this is pointless… Let's just get through this mission and I'll make sure your team gets a new supervising agent from the Bureau." – Ava said with a barely detectable shaking in her voice that Sara completely missed.

"Yeah, that would be best. We can meet tomorrow and talk about our plan of action, _Agent_ Sharpe." – Sara dismissed her and made her way back to where Rip and Constantine were standing, completely missing the hurt look in the other woman's eyes.

"Dating a coworker is never a good idea, Captain Lance." – Rip offered.

"Shut up, Rip. I don't need your advice."

"I'm just saying, you're both too different to make it work." – He tried again, but before he could continue Sara was facing him with a concealed blade in her palm, ready to press harder on his throat.

"You know nothing of what we are and if you value your life, you'd stay far away from mine." – She said and released him, walking back to the Waverider.

"Oh, but I know more than you think Sara." – Rip murmured under his nose, thankfully for him though Sara was out of earshot when he did.

 _TBC…_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter III: Godly Affairs_**

 _AN: Hello guys! Jeez, writing this last chapter was quite the adventure, to be honest I was not even sure how it would end until I wrote it. First of all, thank you ALL for the amazing comments and all the support! I couldn't have managed to finish the story without you! Second, since I've been writing for the better part of today and promised to post it tonight as latest, I may (definitely) have some typos that I'll correct tomorrow after at least 6 hours of sleep. Well without further a due, I'll leave you with the final chapter of the story, I am looking forward to your thoughts. Enjoy!_

 _** 11pm 23_ _rd_ _August**_

 _(Ava talking slowly, with a heavy voice)_

 _Some fears leave you paralyzed… others make drops of cold sweat break out and wash over your skin in a matter of seconds, some fears leave you trembling, haunted forever. They are not always manifested, put on display, but they live within you, etched into the fabric of your very essence. Those are the fears that leave you sleepless at night, that make your head overthink every mundane task… some fears don't just go away when you get older… some fears only grow with you._

** 6 am, 23nd of August, 79AD **

The things that always managed to amaze Sara was how different the mornings felt in every time period, each era had its own quirks and kinks. For example, the mornings during the medieval ages were taciturn, the air filled with a dreadful feeling of going to see if the plague has been merciful one more night, the mornings during the French revolution were crisp, but the wind carried the songs of the beheaded villagers. There were other mornings, like the ones during the marry 1920's when the sunrays traveled on the back of the joyous jazz notes still echoing from the bars downtown and a whiff of freshly baked bread from the bakery next door. And true to its inconstant nature, today was no exception. The day after day arrived in Pompeii the team did their usual research, but basically just waited until Constantine was chanting gibberish on top of the heal near the town.

Today, Sara woke up with the first sunrays that were piercing the sky, grumpier than usual after her encounter with Ava last night and with an unpleasant throbbing behind her eyes. A headache was the last thing she needed right now.

"Ah Captain Lance, you're awake, good." – Sounded Rip's voice behind her and Sara barely contained the urge to punch him for talking to her before her morning coffee.

"So what's our plan for today Captain?" – Asked Nate who just walked in followed by Snart, Zari and Ray.

"First of all where are Amaya and Mick?" – Sara wondered, but her question was answered almost momentarily.

"I told you just go for it." – Grunted Mick and stepped into the kitchen space with a very desperate looking Amaya in tow.

Something was happening with these two, they looked like children planning to get their hands on the cookie jar without alerting their mom, but time was of the essence and whatever they were talking about was surely less life threating than Mallus escaping his prison.

"Okay kids, time to compare notes, let's see what we have." – Sara spoke again taking the lead, but before Zari could begin talking, three loud knocks interrupted her.

"Captain, it seems we have unexpected visitors. A man wearing some strange glasses is knocking on the cargo bay door." – Gideon announced.

"What? Aren't we shielded?" – Sara's eyes widened.

"We are." – Gideon answered.

"Nate suit up and come with me, the rest of you stay back and be ready for a possible attack." – Sara said before she and Nate sprinted to the cargo bay.

"Hey, Sara, technically speaking, Gideon would've recognized if it was Damien Darhk knocking right?" – Nate asked a little worried, but Sara ignored him in order to get to the panel next to the door.

Putting in her command, the screen brightened and the image from the outside camera came on. The man standing outside looked like the locals, but a huge pair of glasses with various colored lenses rested on his nose. However, Sara would have recognized that nervous twitching of his hands everywhere, she certainly was the cause of it 98% of the times. Knowing there was nothing to be afraid of Sara exhaled and opened the door.

"Gary, what are you doing here?" – She asked when he stepped into the cargo bay and the Waverider's door closed instantly behind him.

"I… umm hello… I…" – Gay wasn't expecting a very warm welcome, but Sara always scared the living hell out of him, especially after he'd seen the tape of her fight with director Sharpe.

"How did you even find the ship? We are cloaked." – Asked Nate while they were walking back to the kitchen where everybody was.

"Oh that! Well, easy, with these." – He said and took off the glasses he was wearing as if they explained everything and Sara was just looking puzzled.

"The Waverider's cloaking shields use an algorithm that manipulates the light reflection and wave lengths, but different colors have different waves, so…" – Gary spoke and showed each of the colored lenses to Nate explaining its purpose as they took another turn down the hallways.

"… and basically that's it. While the ship may be invisible to the naked eye, the wave length of the spectrum of each color betrays the structure as a whole wherever it is." – He said, proud of himself for memorizing all the information.

"Cool!" – Nate admitted enthusiastically.

"Right! It's the latest model, but I told Billy from scientific department that they need to make the design cooler 'cause… AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" – Gary let out a high pitched scream when they entered the kitchen and quickly jumped behind Nate.

There were Ray dressed in his atom suit with an extended right hand and lasers ready to attack, Amaya had a knife in her hand, Zari was ready to touch her air totem and blast him away. Snart and Rory held their guns high, aiming for his head and heart respectively and even Rip and Constantine had grabbed the spoons from the table trying to look intimidating (and failing miserably).

"Jesus Christ, lad! You scared the shit out of us!" – Constantine said and everyone lowered their weapons as they exhaled relieved.

"Gary, what are you doing here?" – Sara asked, once everyone was calmer.

"Director Sharpe came upon some information that might help your team and she sent me to tell you guys." – He said as he could feel every pair of eyes in the room turned towards him.

"And she couldn't just come here personally, what are we 12?" – Sara asked indignantly.

"Well, she had… a prior engagement from last night and she was otherwise… um occupied." – He mumbled, trying to get out of the uncomfortable questioning with his life and hopefully all of his bones intact.

Judging from the surprised look Sara gave him, he was beginning to doubt his answer was satisfactory to the captain.

Sara's eyes had widened and for a nanosecond her sky blue eyes sparkled with hurt and anger, but just as quickly as this look came it went away and determination set in her features.

"Whatever, what's that information you have." – She asked coldly.

"Well last night director Sharpe received news that there was no recorded history prior to the birth of Jesus which means…"

"That if we don't stop Mallus in the next twelve hours, all time will be altered beyond any hopes of salvage." – Rip interrupted him.

"We'll need to act tonight when Caligula makes his appearance on the procession." – Sara said.

"Now is the time your director calls for back up." – Sara looked at Gary who seemed to become even more skittish.

"Yeah well, about that… Director Sharpe's time currier got… um… lost and mine was damaged when we got here so we… we don't have any way of communication with the rest of the bureau." – Gary said looking at the ground, suddenly fascinated by the floor of the Waverider.

"WHAT?!" – Sara practically shouted and took a step towards Gary, not really going to kill him though.

"How are we supposed to fight Mallus and his minions without any help from the Time Bureau? I can't lose any more people from my team!" – Sara yelled and walked out of the kitchen to her office. They needed a new plan, but this all looked like the textbook definition of a fucked up situation leading to a suicide mission.

After Sara stormed out, the team was pretty much confused as to all they had to do now, but most of all they were worried about their captain. Everyone knew Sara had feelings for Ava and Ava had feelings for Sara, even a blind man could see as much, but strong women can be also damn proud creatures, so it wasn't really a surprise that both blondes were in the position they were in now.

After a couple of minutes Amaya went to the table where Sara's coffee mug was still sitting idly, took it and went to the captain's office, she knew Sara could use a friend right now.

"Hey. You ok?" – Asked Amaya as he entered the office where Sara was sitting looking at some maps.

"Honestly, I don't even know how to answer that." – The other woman said, sounding defeated.

"Wanna talk about it?" – Amaya prompted, sitting on the desk in front of Sara.

"What is there to talk about? We have no back up, the team is so highly strung they were ready to attack Gary with _spoons_ , Ava is out there playing time tourist instead of helping us…" – Sara trailed off not really wanting to go into the whole Ava messed up situation.

"Sara, you guys didn't need back up to end with the time masters, now we are stronger and we have four of the totems. We can do it. Trust in your team captain." – Said Amaya and put a hand on Sara's shoulder and that little speech made all the difference at this moment.

Amaya was sensitive enough _not_ to bring Ava into the conversation, but the connotation was clear "get your head together", so Sara hugged Amaya and they both made their way back to the kitchen.

"Okay team, time to improvise." – Sara said determined.

"Tonight is the last night before the volcano erupts tomorrow, which means whatever is about to happen will happen tonight when Caligula binds the souls of the people of Pompeii to the disaster. So here is what we are going to do." – The Captain had everyone's attention.

"Constantine and Rip, you will find a way to stop Caligula from preforming the binding ritual. Hit the books and find out everything you can about when and how to do that. And Constantine… please refrain from asking Gideon to fabricate you any human body parts, she doesn't like doing that." – Sara instructed and Zari giggled imagining the conversation the AI must have had with Sara on this topic.

"Listen up legends, tonight will be full of surprises from the Darhks, we need to be ready for everything. Ray and Zari I want you to make sure the gun you're working on is at its best for tonight. Amaya and Nate can run surveillance on the temple of Vulcan in the agora." - They nodded and everyone was walking out one by one after hearing their part, except Rip who was still there.

"Let's go kid." – Said Ray and nudged Zari to the laboratory, interrupting the wink she gave Amaya before following him.

"Rory and Leo, I need you guys to come up with at least four exit ways of the square in case things go south."

"Gary, you and I are going to find Ava and work on the details of the plan." – She said and Gary nodded quickly, not daring to speak.

"Sara, don't you think you should do something more productive than looking for Miss Sharpe? Don't let your emotions cloud your judgement." – Rip grabbed Sara's wrist and she took a deep breath not to break his wrist at this moment.

"Why are you so hell bent on me interacting with Ava, Rip? What game are you playing now?" – She asked as she sharply shook off his hand and he winced.

"You are just too attached to a coworker and that is never a good idea." – Rip lied.

"You are the last person who can talk to me about that, especially after how you _used_ the whole team for the better part of a year!"

"You can't get involved with her!" – He yelled.

"Why the hell no? What do you know? And how is my _private_ life any of your business?" – Sara squeezed her eyes, looking directly at Rip, having forgotten completely about Gary standing a few feet from them.

Rip seemed so angry, as if he was on the brink of admitting something big, but after a heartbeat passed, he only breathed out and spoke normally again.

"Nothing. I don't know nothing, I just don't think your romance should cloud your mind." – He said.

"Nothing is clouding my mind Rip and if you try to tell me once more what and with who I have or don't have to do, an aching arm will be the least of your worries." – Sara promised and walked out of the kitchen followed by Gary.

***Meanwhile somewhere in Pompeii***

"Morning." – Said Ava as she walked out on the patio of the house.

"Good morning sweetheart. How did you sleep?" – Asked the woman that was seating on the table eating slowly her breakfast, a fruit salad that was topped with honey and pine nuts.

"Would you like some?" – The stranger asked with a smile.

"Yeah, I could eat something." – Said Ava and her stomach grumbled in agreement making both of them laugh.

"You are still heading out later right?" – Ava asked suddenly all too serious.

"Yes, I did promise, but you're making me miss one of my favorite celebrations you know." – The woman said.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to see it this year." – Ava answered as she ate her salad and thought of what was about to come, if not tonight, then certainly tomorrow. She was playing a dangerous game, but she could not just leave Gaia to the destiny that no doubt awaited her if she stayed in Pompeii.

"Okay, but I'm not leaving before showing you something." – Gaia said with a smile and got up from the table, slowly making her way to the house to get ready for the day.

She was a well-known and respected roman woman, there was no way she was going out in the city without her jewelry and so she emerged twenty minutes later, dressed in her purple – gold toga and curiously shaped tanzanite necklace and earrings, making her platinum blonde hair standing out even more.

"Okay, let's go before I turn eighty." – She said and looped her arm with Ava's as they made their way to the city.

**Back to Sara and Gary**

"Gary this is getting pointless, we don't have time to search the entire city for Ava." – Sara said as they made their way from the Stoa of Attalos to the baths.

"The time courier was the only communication we had so with these gone I don't really have a way of contacting her. She knows we have a meeting at the coliseum at noon though." – Gary said.

"It's already 12 pm, let's just head over there and hope she comes back sooner from her… previous appointment." – Sara decided and she scrunched her nose not sure how to describe Ava's previous business when she had no idea what it actually was. If one thing was sure though, Ava would've never endangered a mission, much less as important as this one, playing hookie with a local girl, that was Sara's signature.

"Man, you're really bothered by director Sharpe's meeting with Gaia huh?" – Gary asked and the moment he uttered that sentence regretted it immediately.

Sara's eyes widened in disbelief at that new information.

"Gaia? Who's Gaia, Gary?" – Sara asked the agent.

"I…I, I..." – Gary stuttered and Sara grabbed him by the rim of his shirt.

"I don't know. All I know is that the director established a friendship with her the day we came to Pompeii a week ago and she's been spending time with her ever since." – Gary spoke quickly with an almost squeaky voice.

"And she had the _nerve_ to doubt me just because I had history with the Queen of France… what a bitch." – Sara said offended.

"In all fairness you do have a certain reputation with the ladies…" – Gary spoke, but Sara shot him a murderous look.

"Whatever, let's just find her and get over with this." – Sara said and began walking quicker towards the gates of the coliseum.

***Meanwhile Ava and Gaia***

"This is beautiful!" – Said Ava as she made her way out from the underground tunnels onto the arena of the coliseum.

"I know, that was why I wanted you to see it. This place is where the most dangerous and glorious gladiators have fought. Some have lost their lives, others have gained their freedom, but each and every one of them has left a piece of his soul on this sand." – Gaia walked behind Ava, guiding her though the place.

"I have never imagined how different the view from down here can be." – Said Ava as she looked up to the stairs and the seats that surrounded the arena.

Ava closed her eyes and continued looking up, directly into the Sun, feeling its warmth on her face, taking a breath, tasting in the back of her throat the sand, letting the sensation take over her body.

"The soldiers on the battlefield fight for money, but the ones that come out here, they fight for glory." – Gaia spoke as she took Ava to the left wall of the arena.

"Look up there… See the inscription?" – Gaia asked.

"Yes, but I don't understand it." – Ava admitted. Gaia already knew Ava wasn't from around here, even if they never had this conversation out loud the roman woman decided to just leave some stuff unsaid.

" _Non desistas. Non exieris_ " – Gaia whispered.

"Don't give up, don't surrender." – Translated Gaia.

"It's important to remember this. I've seen countless men over the years, lose the fight before they even begin it, because their spirit has given up. Even when things are at its worse, there's always hope as long as the sword in your hand remains up." – Gaia spoke with a distant gaze, obviously recounting past memories, but Ava didn't want to pry.

"The writing all lead to that statue over there, why?" – Ava asked as she observed the Statue of a winged goddess that looked like an angel right under the seat meant for the most important spectator of the arena.

"That's _Atrox Fortuna_ , although many people believe it's merely Fortuna, fools." – Gaia laughed and continued walking with Ava.

"Gaia!" – A group of young women behind them waved and ran up to them.

"Lucrezia! It's so nice to see you again!" – Gaia said with a smile and hugged the younger woman.

"Gaia do you remember me? You look splendid today!" – Said a voice behind Lucrezia, it belonged to the youngest woman in the group, barely in her early twenties, the girl was quite beautiful. Her green eyes shined in the sun light like emeralds and her wavy hair framed her round face.

"Of course Livia, you were my best student! Even though you always sat in the back of the class. I was just showing my friend Ava around our city, she came earlier for the Vulcanalia celebreations." – Said Gaia in mock scolding manner.

"You are lucky to have her as a guide! Gaia was the best teacher in the whole academy!" – Illyria, that was standing on the other side of Lucrezia said.

"Oh you kids were just amazing. I still remember all the drama when your first baby teeth began falling off." – Gaia said and they all laughed.

"Great Ivno*! Your bracelet is so pretty Ava!" – Livia chirped and took Ava's hand.

Examining a piece of jewelry doesn't necessarily mean caressing one's wrist as if it was made of porcelain, looking closer at a bracelet didn't require your thumbs to stroke the other person's wrist… right? At least Sara thought so.

She and Gary were just walking around the coliseum waiting for Ava to show up for their meeting, but she didn't expect her to see the _director_ surrounded by some twenty year old bimbos that were idiotically trying to flirt with her and _she_ was just standing there smiling.

This had been the most awkward position Ava had been in quite a while now, she didn't like to be touched, she didn't like the physical contact with people, except maybe with a certain blonde captain, but that was a discussion for another time. The girls around her were smiling and talking with Gaia, but Livia seemed more interested in Ava than the rest of the group, smiling sweetly and asking her how long she was in town for? Livia had taken a few steps closer to Ava while Gaia talked with the rest of the girls behind them.

"Ava!" – Sara couldn't take it anymore and yelled for the other blonde as she shook her head from side to side and , startling her since she definitely didn't expect to see her here.

"How is the investigation going, _Director_?" – Sara asked with a tone that screamed "got you!".

"Sara?" – Ava was still incredulous of the coincidence, but then Gary appeared behind the captain and it all clicked in her head. He had told Sara where they were meeting. Oh boy, Gary was in big trouble once this mess with Mallus was sorted out!

"I was just… um… Gaia was…" – Ava tried to explain while pointing to Gaia that was behind Livia, still chatting sweetly with the other girls.

"Yeah, whatever… I don't care." – Sara tried to sound nonchalant and cleared her throat. The truth is, this Gaia woman was indeed pretty with the dark Chesnutt hair and the green eyes.

"My team is ready with a plan for tonight, once you are done… "investigating" you can join us at the agora." – Said Sara and quickly turned around, furious about the young woman with wavy hair and playful fingers.

"Gary, go with Sara and make sure she doesn't snap anyone in half, I'll be right with you." – Ava said and turned to Livia again.

"It's been lovely meeting you, but I need to take Gaia away for a second." – Ava tried to excuse herself as politely as she could.

"Okay, well, It was great meeting you, let me know if you plan on sticking around longer." – Livia winked at her and turned around to her girlfriends guiding them back to the market place.

"Gaia, it's time. You need to go." – Ava said in a low voice and took Gaia's hands in hers.

"Ah okay, okay. A deal is a deal. You are a strange woman Ava, but I had a great time this past week, so thank you and farewell dear." – Gaia said and kissed Ava on the forehead.

Watching Gaia's silhouette getting smaller and smaller in the distance until only her bright hair got lost into the crowd, Ava smiled to herself and turned back to walk to the agora where the rest of the legends were waiting for her.

…

"Are we sure that the Darhks are even going to show up tonight?" – Nate asked over the coms.

"They know we know that tonight Caligula is performing the binding ceremony and we'll try to stop him, so they'll try and stop us at all costs." – Sara spoke.

"I am ready with the spell I need for tonight, there's only one more ingredient I need that will be extremely difficult to obtain." – Constantine said.

"What is it brit?" – Rory grumbled.

"A virgin's tears."

"Can't you for once in your life ask for a bubblegum or something more normal?" – Sara sighed, but then an idea came to her and she looked at Gary smiling. Downright grinning, making Gary gulp nervously.

"Gary, finally a task you can help us with." – Said the captain.

"Oh Sara love, I also need one more thing from you." – Constantine said.

"I'll need earth from where fate favors the brave."

"You could've just said the coliseum you know?" – Sara said sarcastically.

"Yeah well, this word lacks a certain finesse." – He said.

"Okay, okay, I'll meet you back here in an hour."

"Wait, I'll come with." – Said Ava that walked to them in this very moment.

"I know my way around the coliseum." – She added.

"No kidding." – Sara murmured under her nose.

It wasn't strange for the two of them to bicker and tease each other, but the silence that had fallen between them as they were walking back to the arena was definitely something new and very uncomfortable, charged with equal parts of sexual tension and irritation at one another.

"You know, if you tell me what's bothering you we won't have to deal with this awkward silence." – Ava said as they walked through the gladiator galleys that led to the arena.

"I don't feel awkward, have you done something to feel awkward?" – Sara asked, pretending to be cool.

"Come on, I saw how you stormed out after you saw Gaia." – Ava probed again.

"Can we not talk about your latest conquest please, we have mission to prepare for." – Sara said and Ava couldn't believe her ears.

"Excuse me, my what? In case you have forgotten Sara, you're not talking to a mirror on the wall, _conquests_ are your thing not mine!" – Ava lost her patience. It was one thing to call her unprofessional and whole other a player and Ava Sharpe was no player, she was a one woman woman.

Sara suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned to Ava who was still challenging her to continue the conversation.

"Will you ever give that up? Fine, I fooled around, a lot…" – Sara admitted as she took a step closer.

"But that was before I got to know you okay? Before I saw how extraordinary you are and before I spent hours and hours thinking how to ask you out only to have things end up in such a disaster." – Sara talked and Ava's look of surprise was quite endearing.

"Still you said it wasn't going to work from before our first date had even ended!" – Ava blamed her.

"We were attacked by pirates in my office! I was just scared that you'd realize I wasn't worth the effort!" – Sara shouted back and pushed Ava to the wall behind her.

They were just a few steps from going out on the arena to collect some of the sand, but that had flown out of their heads the moment they had stopped walking.

"Go you're driving me crazy. Once you say we can't be together, we won't work… and then you tell me how amazing I am and how you were acting like a jerk because you were scared? News flash Sara, I'm scared as well!" – Ava opened up and looked at the blue eyes in front of her.

"I am scared because you are beautiful and badass and you'll just get bored of me and leave." – Ava added in a low voice and Sara's heart broke a little at that admission.

"You are not like the rest." – Sara said with a raspy voice and leaned in closer.

"You must stop him." – An unexpected voice sounded behind Ava.

"Gaia, what are you doing still here?" – Asked the director asked wondering and worried.

"Wait! You… she is Gaia!?" – Sara asked Ava incredulous.

"Who did you think Gaia was?" – Ava turned to Sara, trying to understand why Sara sounded so surprised. She had introduced them earlier after all.

"You must stop him." – There was an old woman standing behind them, dressed in her majestic purple and golden toga from earlier, repeating her first sentence, and completely ignoring the question Ava asked her and the initial confusion between the women. Sara remembers that woman, she was with Ava when they saw her earlier in the coliseum hallways, _right behind_ the girl that was touching the taller blonde. Of course! And there was Sara imagining Gaia would be some hot, spoiled roman brat looking for some fun times with Ava and when she saw Livia talking with the director she thought she was right when Ava had pointed in that direction.

"He is coming and not even we can help you this time." – Gaia continued.

"Listen grandma, not to be rude, but we don't have time for ramblings." – Sara was getting annoyed at the unexpected interruption, but before she could say anything more the old woman took a step forward and got surrounded by light, her wrinkled face instantly changed and a beautiful middle aged woman was standing head to head with Sara.

Gaia's ash white braid turned molten gold and framed her face, making her grey eyes brighter than before and putting fully on display her godly nature, making the wheels turn inside Ava and Sara's minds, everything slowly making sense… in all fairness it did all started as a godly affair after all. Moreover, the "news" that the old gods walked among them (the mortals) wasn't really something new to Sara, she had worked with Kendra and Carter and they were basically gods too, so…

"Pompeii must fall… Pompeii _will_ fall, but if you don't stop it from becoming a sacrifice in Mallus' name the rest of the world will surely follow much sooner than its rightful time. The last time it happened, Steppenwolf was just as vicious. Amazons, Atlantians, mortal men and all the gods they worshipped fought together and barely managed to claim the victory. We have protected you for so long that you have forgotten your own history, but your kind turned too selfish, too parsimonious and too inexorable to be helped anymore." – Gaia spoke with authority, keeping her head high and cruel smug appeared on her face. The callous woman in front of Sara had nothing to do with the sweet old lady Ava had known.

"So you're saying the gods will just stay by while a daemon from another world destroys this world?" – Sara asked incredulous.

"The gods? What gods exactly would these be Miss Lance? The ones in whom people no longer believe? The ones that future history calls "myths and legends"?" – Gaia laughed cruelly.

"We can stop the eruption; my team found a way around it, if we save Pompeii would you help us defeat Mallus?" – Sara asked.

"You don't seem to get it darling. They deserve it. The people of Pompeii deserve what's coming to them and I have no interest in stopping that, furthermore, I have no intention of denying us our retribution for converting some ignorant fool who can turn water into wine into a god. Dionysus has been doing the exact same thing for centuries now." – Gaia said calmly as if speaking about the demise of hundreds of people was nothing special.

"You are killing your own people for retribution?!" – Sara yelled, unable to contain her wrath now that she knew the whole story.

"Don't be foolish girl! We've seen the future, we know what people are capable of, we've been around since the first humans began thinking rationally, humans created us gods and ironically they think it was the other way around. Fools… A god is only as strong as the faith people have in it. Our end is nearing with every day that passes, humans don't need gods when they can play this role themselves." – Gaia talked slowly twisting her mouth like she was tasting something bitter.

"And sacrificing a few small towns will avenge your fall from grace?" – Ava asked, furious at the older woman.

"Babylon and Rome were just the beginning darlings, now Pompeii must pay its due. But fret not, _faber est quisque fortunae suae_." – Gaia laughed smugly, turned around and took a couple of steps before her figure dispersed slowly into the darkness of the fading night.

A light tremor shook the ground, it was almost imperceptible, but the women knew that their time was running out.

"Come on, we have to go." – Ava said and tugged Sara's hand as they began running back to the agora where the rest of the legends and Gary were fighting with the Darhks.

"I can't believe the one time you decide to bend the rules, you end up trying to save a freaking goddess." – Sara said incredulous looking at Ava.

"Don't be petty Sara, it does not become you." – Ava said back trying not to get annoyed at the fact that the captain actually was right.

"Sara, we need your back up, Damien and Nora are too strong together, we need to take at least one of them out!" – Shouted Amaya over the coms. It was not frequent for the vixen to use that tone of voice, but the raging battle around her was not "normal circumstance".

Sundown came pretty quickly and the center of the city was ready for the most important celebration of the Vulcanalia cycle. Torches with live fire were put between the columns of the buildings, people were cheering and the procession made its way from the north to the south of Pompeii, stopping for a little while when the drummers and the priests would pass the Agora.

Caligula was surrounded by sea of priests and was sitting on a massive, tall throne like chair. His hands filled with grapes and his feet covered in golden coins. He was laughing and waving maniacally, his laugh was more creepy than amused and his eyes glistened with madness as he passed, carried by seven slaves.

One moment everything around them was normal, the people on the market were walking up and down the Agora, talking lively about the wonderful surprise their emperor Caligula had made when he appeared during the procession and the next Damien and Nora Darhk appeared in front of the temple of Vulcan throwing fireballs around making people scream in horror in quickly take cover wherever they could find it.

"Constantine go to the temple and take care of Caligula, Ava guard him, the rest of you are with me fighting Nora and Damien." – Sara shouted orders.

"Come on love, we don't have all day." – Said excited the brit as he saw the lack of enthusiasm on the director's face.

"Don't call me love." – She snapped back.

"Okay, pet." – Constantine tried again and Ava rolled her eyes, she was supposed to guard the one person whom she wanted to kill the most, if that wasn't irony in its full capacity then nothing was.

"Oh how sweet, all the gang has gathered to greet us." – Damien said when he saw the team coming towards them.

"No, wait. You're missing a director if I'm not mistaken, what a shame I planned to kill you all at once."

"Enjoy breathing while you can Damien." – Sara threatened and ran forward with her extended staff while Zari attacked the older Darhk with a wind blow.

Nora was standing beside her father and snapped her fingers once, opening a portal through which a hoard of yelling Vikings poured through.

"Did you really think we'd come unprepared?" – Nora asked in rhetorical manner.

"See, why I was pissed before?" – Ava asked over the coms, the question clearly intended for Amaya who only nodded in agreement.

On the East side of the Agora, Mick and Snart were shooting with their guns while Rip was fighting with a sword he had come to possess from a fallen Viking, Ray had shrunk and used his laser weapons to surprise the warriors from above.

Zari, Ava and Sara were fighting against Nora and ever though it was three against one, Nora fought excellently. Using her totem with a bear spirit, she smashed into Amaya, knocking her hard to the ground with a long gash from her shoulder to her chest.

"Amaya!" – Screamed Zari and Sara attacked Nora with her staff, managing only to land an insignificant blow to the latter, buying some time for Amaya to gather her strength again.

Zari touched her totem and with an enraged cry she sent Nora flying backwards into one of the columns of the Stoa, snapping it like a twig. Zari was still relatively new to wielding her totem and she felt how hot blood was rushing down her nose and started dripping on the ground, painting the Earth red where the drops landed.

Nora was quick to recover though and lifting her right hand, the rocks from the fallen column behind her went flying to where Zari was standing. The young woman managed to avoid most of them, but she was too late to deflect two of the pieces and they hit her, sending her unconscious to the ground.

A sudden loud cry was heard from the mountain, a cry that froze the blood in their veins once they all remembered to whom it belonged to - Grodd.

"Shit." – Sara barely managed to say the whole word before the giant gorilla made their way down the hill, heading straight to the town.

"Ray get the gun ready and come help us, Nate, you try to hold off Grodd until we retrieve Amaya's totem and she will help you with him. We can't allow Grodd to reach the battle here! Rip try to hold off Damien while Ray helps us!"

"Sara, my connection with the spirit totem is barely still alive, Nora is his bearer now, I don't know if it will let me take over so quickly." – Amaya said worried.

"We don't have a lot of other options Amaya, we're already stretched thin." – The ex-assassin replied.

"I'm ready." – Ray said as he flew above them.

Sara gritted her teeth and attacked Nora again, swinging viciously her bo staff, making Nora take step after step backwards until she twisted her step and fell on her butt. She was getting tired.

Sara held the staff under her chin, daring her to make a move and Ray was aiming to shoot with his gun when the worst possible situation happened. Nora's eyes turned completely black and the veins on her face stood out with black blood coursing through them. Mallus laughed psychotically and swiftly made Nora's body stand up, clutching his left hand Sara dropped on her knees holding tightly her head. A loud noise inside her mind made her yell out from pain.

"Ray!" – Sara managed to yell once even though Mallus kicked her in the stomach and she rolled over still gripping hard her head.

At first, Ray was still hesitant about shooting Nora, he didn't want to kill her, but when Sara's anguished cries brought him back to reality he aimed and took the shot and Mallus was so concentrated on torturing Sara that he couldn't catch the bullet before it could hit Nora's body.

"AAAAhhh!" – Nora's loud cry carried over the battlefield and Damien immediately looked over, just in time to see Nora falling down with a gunshot two inches from her heart.

"Nora!" – Damien shouted hurt.

"You are going to pay for this!" – He yelled and turned his attention back to Rip.

"Amaya catch!" – Sara took the totem off Nora's neck and threw it to Amaya and Ray flew quickly to aid Nate.

"Okay… okay… come on old friend." – Amaya said to her totem as she put it back on her neck. At first the totem fought her and it hurt like hell. Amaya could feel the lion's hunger, the gorilla's rage, the bear's strength… all at once. But the totem did recognize its rightful owner when Amaya took a deep breath and looked over at Zari, remembering some of the happy moments she had come to share with the younger woman. A wolf's spirit took over her and she moved a barely conscious Zari to a corner in the Stoa where she wouldn't be hurt until she could stand up once more.

"Hey, you got your totem back." – Zari smiled at Amaya.

"Yeah, you missed quite the show." – The older woman said.

"Stay down, breathe and then come back to help us." – Amaya said and made a move to go help Nate as Sara had told her to do earlier, but Zari grabbed her hand.

"Hey… be careful please." – Zari said, making Amaya smile sweetly at her.

"See you in a bit Miss Tomaz." - Said Amaya and ran as quickly as she could to the forest where Grodd was still fighting with Nathaniel.

"Aah, these buggers keep coming and coming for more!" – Mick grumbled under his nose, firing his gun against the incoming Vikings.

"Just keep shooting Mick! I promise you if we live after tonight, I'll personally make sure all your beer is cold and Sara lets you see the football games on the big screen in her office." – Snart said with his usual blaze voice.

"You know how to bargain!" – Rory shouted and fired his gun again.

Whilst Constantine was sitting on his butt and chanted in the temple of Vulcan with the unconscious body of Caligula in the corner, Ava was doing her best not to let any of the Vikings get to him, but they just keep coming and coming. Despite Gary's best efforts, the warriors outnumbered them five to one.

Meanwhile Zari ran back to Sara and used her totem to swirl Nora in a small tornado of sandy wind around Nora who was struggling to keep breathing because the gun Ray had shot her with was slowly draining her magic away from her. However, the daemon inside the girl trashed around in anger, looking for a way to escape its dying host.

"Zari, can you make sure she stays down? Ava looks like she can use some help." – Sara asked and Zari nodded.

Just as Sara managed to take down two Vikings and took a couple of steps towards the Stoa, Nora began mumbling something and a beam of black energy shot up the sky and fell down directly onto Sara, paralyzing her in her steps.

At this moment, Nora screamed again and Zari stopped the tornado, needing a little break herself and finally feeling the sharp pain that was lingering in her leg ever since the fall. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and the young totem barer saw how another river of blood dripped from her nose, filling her mouth with metallic taste, making her cough.

"Time to stop playing." – Said Damien and let Rip fall to the ground, but the brit wouldn't just stay down. Rip tried to attack again, but Damien had manipulated him as if he was rag doll, he had at least four broken ribs, a broken arm and a twisted ankle, a bleeding mouth and a not so envious black eye.

Damien looked at where his daughter was lying on the ground in the pool of her own blood, his blood too. Nora looked scared and for a moment he saw that little girl he had abandoned so many years ago, she looked week and vulnerable and without Mallus inside her, her chances of survival were slim, almost next to none.

When Rip tried to attack Damien again, this one put his hand before him and a shield projected over him, making all of Rip's attacks futile. Holding the shield with one arm, Damien used every ounce of magic left in him to lift Rip in the air so that everyone could see him, he'd make an example out of him.

"Should've ran when you had the chance to." – Damien said quietly and Rip knew that this was it. This was the moment he most feared and yet somehow he was calm, he always thought he'd panic and regret his actions, but the truth was he didn't regret anything.

With one last, shaky breath, Rip tapped the coms in his right ear and said:

"Gideon, delete permanently file 354Z."

"Yes, Captain." – The Ai saluted him one last time with a grim tone.

A second later, Damien rotated his fingers and Rip's neck snapped. It wasn't as bloody as he'd have like it to be, but he had to get to Nora as quickly as he could.

Every legend's breath hitched in their throats, Rip was dead and Sara was paralyzed. Zari was on the ground, grabbing tightly her right leg and Leo and Rory's guns were running out of power. Constantine was still chanting and Ava was trying to make her way through the rest of the Vikings and get to Sara.

The Agora had become a bloody battlefield with countless of Viking warriors lying on the ground, the legends were growing tired and sloppy, but they gritted their teeth and continued the fight.

Sara was trapped in the dimension of Mallus and her body had become a vessel, after the last of the Vikings fell Rory and Snart ran to Sara but she attacked them viciously. Nobody could match the ex – assassin in a combat and soon both men that tried found themselves unconscious on the ground.

In that moment, Grodd cried out in pain and the ground shook as his dead body hit the dirt, finally allowing Maya, Nate and Ray get back to the fight on the Agora. As they rushed back, Amaya noticed that amidst all the chaos nobody had noticed when Damien had escaped with Nora. Only a puddle of blood, too much blood was left where the younger Darhk had been lying before.

"Amaya and Zari, you are the only totem bearers here, I'll distract Sara while you two prepare to attack with your totems!" – Ava shouted as she came behind them and lounged at the blonde captain with her batons.

"We only have two totems, we need at least three to bind her!" – Amaya shouted.

Ava could hold her own against Sara, she knew that much, but this wasn't her Sara, this was Mallus and he played dirty. Knocking the batons off of Ava's grip, he punched Ava in the stomach with all his power, doubling her over trying to catch her breath.

"There's only one way." – Ray muttered.

"You are not shooting Sara!" – Ava raged and attacked the blonde again.

"We don't have any other choice! She must be stopped!" – Constantine yelled as he joined the group finally done with his chanting.

"I said NO!" – Ava fought on two fronts and it was starting to take its toll on her.

"I'm sorry Ava…" – Ray muttered and aimed his gun at Sara and shot his captain that was just about to kick Ava in the head.

"NO! Sara!" – Ava crawled quickly to the blonde's side, her eyes red as a river of tears began falling from them.

You know, being possessed by other worldly daemon for the second time, Sara thought it wouldn't be worse than the first time and for a split second she wasn't mistaken, but what followed she couldn't have imagined it even in her worst nightmares. Sara didn't even feel hitting the ground, she barely even registered the shot Ray had taken and the bullet making its way to her heart, the daemon had taken over the moment Nora's spell had transferred Mallus' spirit inside her. She only heard the anguished cry of her name that came from Ava that came running to her after all the Vikings were dead and when Ray finally did what Constantine had told him not so long ago.

Only if one had ever went to the beach right after sundown while the sky is still composed mainly of countless shades of dusky blues, one could comprehend what Sara was feeling at the moment. Have you ever sat on the sand that had been a hot inferno mere hours ago, but now it's starting to get chilly even though it's the middle of August? If so, then you know the simmering sensation of the gentle, salty breeze crawling up your sine and making your whole body shiver right to the toes of your feet that are buried in the sand. You've felt the true serenity of the moment, the quietude, of having nothing on your mind and contemplating the wavy surface of the dark, open sea ahead of you.. If so, then you have seen the sparkle of the first stars of the night slowly getting bolder and the full silver moon rising gradually over the horizon, drawing a clear path like reflection on the water's surface. The combination of all elements in one single sensation, indescribable with words. Feeling the wind, the air entering your lungs with every breath intake, the earth surrounding you completely, the water murmuring softly in the most ancient of languages, the fire in your hearth raging even brighter than before this moment of calmness. In other words the perfect oxymoron.

This was how Sara was feeling right now, for a nanosecond all the worries in her head quieted down, withered away… and then… the sharpest of pains anyone could imagine tore through her body as if hundreds of blades pierced her skin all at once. She screamed so loud her throat almost couldn't take it.

The pain was too intense for Sara to stop and think how long it continued, it could've been seconds, but to her it seemed like years. Feeling as though every limb of yours was being pulled apart from your body, finally leaving you shattered and broken, but still alive in a place where you felt only cold and bitter. Alone in a place where all good emotions never even existed, the place where Mallus reigned.

"Sara! Please, please, Sara… fight!" – Ava's voice sounded in the distance, barely an audible echo, the desperation and hurt in it tearing at what was left from Sara's soul.

Constantine fell on his knees and began chanting something unintelligible again, nobody really knowing what her was doing in reality.

The blonde wanted to shout and scream, let Ava know that she can hear her, but she barely had the strength to sit upright on the cold ground beneath her.

"Don't you dare leave me, Lance!" – Ava screamed frantically putting her hand under Sara's neck, where the beginning of her sternum was, the touch much more intimate than medical, a touch of comfort instead of rational thought.

A whole torturously slow minute passed and when the dust and sooth was finally beginning to settle around them, the rest of the legends joined by limping Gary and Constantine stood a couple feet behind them.

Ava wasn't alone even if Sara wasn't by her side, but she felt abandoned and helpless, the woman she loved and didn't even had the chance to tell her so was laying in her arms, slowly losing the most important battle, the one for her own life as her pulse slowed down with each heartbeat.

" _Non desistas_ Sara." - Leaning closer to Sara's ear, just enough so that no one but the captain could hear her, Ava whispered softly and for the first time in Ava felt Sara's pulse spike.

Her whisper sounded louder than the previous cries in the empty realm Sara was standing. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and remembered everything Nyssa taught her on meditation. She ignored the pain in her body and concentrated on Ava's deep voice, clearing her mind of everything but the desire to go back to the agent that held her heart. Sara's breathing became deeper and slower, that was the decisive moment. With Mallus dead, Damien dead, Nora left without powers, Constantine severely injured and exhausted, this very moment was when Sara and only Sara could decide if she'd pull through and live to see Ava's ocean blue eyes again or give up all the pain and suffering and die one final time.

Nobody could blame her if she chose the latter, part of her even wanted to choose the latter option and just get it over with, but after everything she'd been trough there was no way in hell she wouldn't pursue her happiness and Ava was a huge part of that. So, logically, she had to go back, she would go back to Ava and not even Mallus could stop her from doing so. Sure, he was a daemon, but she was a _legend_ , a legend in love and there's nothing more fierce than that.

A loud, determined gasp escaped Sara's pale lips and a heartbeat latter she opened her eyes and the metal casing of the bullet from Ray's gun fell from Sara's chest to the ground. Those cloudy blue sapphires that haunted Ava's dreams were looking at her once more and Ava felt like she could breathe again. Both women were looking at each other's eyes, breathing heavily, each for different reason, but both feeling the joy in their hearts beating in unison.

" _Nunquam exieris_." – Sara tried to say back, but it barely came out as a hoarse whisper, seems like her screaming in the other dimension had left behind an undesirable temporary inconvenience. Bringing their foreheads together, their lips almost touched, but fate would not have it… yet.

"What? I may not have had a local tour guide, but we do have a historian dork on the team." – Sara smirked as she saw Ava's bewildered look at first and then surprised laugh when she spoke the Latin phrase.

"Sara, love, welcome back to the land of the living." – Constantine interrupted the moment and the rest of the legends joined to greet their captain.

"Captain." – Nate and Ray nodded respectfully while Zari and Amaya were helping each other stay upright.

Helping Sara get up, Ava could barely believe that it had all ended and they were still alive. The legends were bruised, battered and some were barely standing, but they were still breathing and that in itself was nothing short of a miracle.

The moment seem to stretch through infinity, but the first sunrays teared the purplish sky, Sara knew they hadn't much time to waste, in less than eight hours everything around them would be covered in ash, fire and destruction.

"Guys, listen up. Surviving Mallus was something nobody expected, but if we want to live long enough to celebrate it, we have to get out of here before this volcano erupts and I'm not sure we have much time." – Sara spoke.

"The Waverider took a nasty blow to the time core when Grodd attacked; I'll need a couple of hours to repair it." – Ray said.

"I'll help and we'll double down that time." – Added Zari that was trying to support her weight on her left leg and Amaya.

"You need to get to the med bay. Your leg is broken at four different places and you're barely standing." – Amaya argued.

"We're gonna need a bigger med bay." – Sara rolled her eyes and murmured under her nose after she took a look at all her teammates.

Suddenly, a noticeable tremor shook the ground and it lasted a couple of extra second longer than the last one from the previous day. This was not good.

"Guys, it's 8 am, the eruption was at 8 pm." – Nate said, but Constantine interrupted him.

"That leaves us plenty of time then."

"Yeah, not really. See, before the actual eruption a rain of stones and a cloud of dust drowned the city, so things went south pretty quickly around 1 pm. We have to get out of here until then or we risk the stones damaging the ship even more." – Nate continued.

Sara pinched the bridge of her nose and turned to look at her team.

"Okay children listen up, we have less than five hours to repair the time ship and get out of here. I know we are all hurt and tired and sore, I know each of you is barely standing up, but I need you guys to hold on just a little bit longer until we get out of here." – The captain spoke with determination.

"When we get out of here, we all get some free time and lots of margaritas on some sunny beach, but now we keep working." – She added.

Nobody dared speak about the dead of Rip, it was all too fresh and they didn't need the negative emotions another dead would bring to the team when the events sink in their minds. The battle they led that night was bloody and exhausting, it was barbaric and graceless, but when each of them faced their fears of actually dying on that battlefield, they had to turn off their emotions and now was not the time to switch them back on. Not yet anyway. They could either fight or feel, doing both was a suicide mission and only one of these variants gave them a chance to keep breathing.

"Can't we just use the missile Ray had designed and stop the eruption altogether? We can't just leave all these unsuspecting people to die." – Amaya asked hopefully even though she already knew the answer.

"We missed our time window for that Amaya, there's nothing more we can do for this city and we can't mess with the natural order of history. Pompeii is a tragedy, but it is a tragedy that shaped our world." – Sara explained, putting a comforting hand on the totem bearer's shoulder.

Knowing Amaya, she already expected this question from the vixen, her heart was so big and generous that she rarely accept defeat when the price was a human life, but some battles were just lost before they could even start and this was one of them. Even Zari didn't argue with Sara's decision this time, which was not a normal occurrence.

Everyone nodded in agreement with the captain and she continued speaking.

"Ray what do you need to repair the ship in time?"

"Oh umm… I'll need Zari's help to reconstruct the time core and since Gideon would be offline I'll need the ship to be empty so no one overstimulates the mainframe by accident. I'll need Leonard and Mick to help me with their ice and fire guns to prevent the possible hardware deformations and that's it." – Ray spoke cheerfully. That man was the reason the legends all kept smiling when things were darker than a vantablack painting.

"Alright, here's the plan. Zari and Ray go through the med bay first, then Rory and Snart. I know we are all injured but we only have time for these four before Gideon goes offline for repair. Ray, go and hurry up with the repairs, we need to get out of here ASAP. The rest of us keep off the ship, go take one last look around Pompeii, go have one last drink, whatever you want, _just keep the your coms on_ and be ready to go running back to the Waverider." – Sara said.

"Hey handsome, what would you say to a quick visit to the docs while these fine young lads find a way to get us as far away as possible from the active volcano?" – Constantine asked Gary who was only capable of smiling like a child on Christmas day and nodding just as much enthusiastically as he followed the brit, but not before he looked at Ava giving her a questioning look if she was ok with him leaving.

Seeing how her friend shined at the opportunity to spend some time with Constantine she couldn't say no to letting him enjoy himself, they did just save the world after all, so Ava only winked at him and nodded her permission. Besides, if Constantine was busy with Gary he would not be ogling Sara, so there was also that. After the battle, she wasn't as angry or as intolerable of the brit as before, but she wasn't his number one fan either.

"I've read Pompeii's fruits were incredibly rich in taste because of the volcanic soil, wanna go and grab a bite?" – Nate asked Amaya who had just left Mick to carry Zari back to the ship since they didn't have any time to waste and with her broken leg it would've taken them ages to get back to the Waverider. Looking worriedly after them, Amaya was hesitant to accept the invitation, not really sure where she stood with Nate and he sensed as much.

"Look, at least take the offer as a friend. We tried being together and it didn't work out, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate you any less." – He tried, speaking only oud enough for her to hear him.

"Okay, friend… let's go." – She said and dragged him back to the city streets behind them. Hearing him offer friendship without any further expectations was strangely liberating, she did miss his company, but with every passing day, she was sure that the good sex they had wasn't worth ruining such a great friendship.

Ava and Sara were looking at the team as each of them took off to their task or to enjoy the moment and when they were the only ones left on the street, they were fidgeting with their hands and looking awkwardly around.

"So… are you going back to the bureau after Zari manages to replicate your time courier?" – Sara asked unsure of how to talk to Ava. They had been on such great emotional rollercoaster the past two days that now when everything was over, neither of them knew what to say or how to behave.

In the last 72 hours they had moments when they nearly strangled each other, saved each other from certain demise and plotted revenge against imaginary crushes… they had spoken so many words they didn't mean, but also that they mean… so where do they go from here?

"I… um… do you wanna take a walk with me?" – Ava asked tentatively.

" I know you are very tired from the fight and it's completely okay if you just want to stay here or prefer me to go away until the team is ready but I thought…" – Ava was rambling. Of course she'd ramble when she was that nervous, she barely even paused between words.

"Ava." – Sara tried to interrupt her, but the director was too nervous to hear that the first time.

"Ava, hey!" – Sara said louder this time and Ava suddenly stopped talking.

"Let's go for a walk. But I'd appreciate it if we do sit down at one point." – Sara said with a small smile, making Ava smile as well.

Normally, one would expect that after a battle that almost killed you, you'd want to take it slow and all that, walking up the hill from Pompeii and almost half way to the top of the volcano was how Sara was taking it slow.

"Okay, I think that's enough walking up, don't forget we'll need to go back down too when the ship is ready." – Ava spoke trying to keep her voice light, but she felt insecure and when Ava Sharpe felt insecure, she found shelter in hiding behind the professional façade of the Director of the Time Bureau, but not this time. This time she allowed herself to be awkward and insecure because she was with Sara and Sara made her feel invincible.

They were currently high enough so that they could see the streets and the buildings of the city of Pompeii, it was hard to believe that in a few hours, one of the most catastrophic fates would befall this land, but history had its prize.

"So, should I call you Director Sharpe now? It does have a nice sound to it." – Sara teased, braking the tense silence that had fallen upon them, making Ava laugh in the process.

"Honestly, I still can't believe it. Everything happened so quickly. Director Bennett dying, defeating Mallus… we won Sara" – Ava said seriously, sitting down on the green grass and looking in front of them where the city streets were coming out of their nightly slumber and people were walking un and down.

It wasn't even a full week since Director Bennet was killed and the chaos in the Time Bureau was only intensifying, despite Ava's best efforts to stabilize things. Budget meetings, regulations procedures, safety checks, agent training and recruitment, alliance treaties meetings… all these were just a part of Ava's new responsibilities and with virtually no sleep and excessive amounts of coffee, she was barely keeping it together. Not to mention that being a Director of the Time Bureau didn't leave much time for anything else, let alone playing dress up with the Legends.

"Hey." – Sara said softly and turned Ava's chin to face her.

"You can do it. You have everything it takes and more to lead the Bureau." – Sara spoke softly, looking directly into the other woman's tired eyes and tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her right ear. At first she wasn't sure if she could take such liberties, but she was going to be damned if she'd let the prospect of happiness slip away because she was too scared to enjoy it. Scared of finally admitting she deserved to be happy, happy with Ava by her side.

"But what if I don't Sara?" – Ava asked hesitantly, not entirely sure where she stood with Sara.

It was confusing as hell, after their ruined first date and their arguments about who had the fault, Ava had come back to the Waverider to talk with Sara and clear the air. She should've told her a long time ago that she never wanted Sara to be normal, but when Rip appeared on the time ship with another brit in long trench coat demanding to talk to Sara, Ava knew she missed her chance.

"Then you acquire it. After everything we saw and learned in the last two days, we learned that there isn't anything impossible. You are an extraordinary woman." – Said Sara and stroked Ava's cheek, feeling the other woman resting her face against her hand, Sara became bolder in her words.

"You are a fighter Ava Sharpe, you don't give up and whenever you need it, we have your back, _I_ have your back. _Non desistas…_ " – Sara said and leaned closer, stroking gently Ava's cheek with her hand, speaking the two magical words that tugged the chords of their hearts and finally made them feel like just two women in love.

" _Non exieris."_ – Ava completed the sentence and closed the distance to kiss Sara, to hell with confusion and doubt.

She always imagined that their kisses would be passionate and lustful, she was feeling very lustful when certain blonde captain was around, but having in mind that their bodies resembled a lost Mondrian painting of bruises, the slow and comforting kiss was a better alternative… for the current moment.

Lips touching, hands wandering, tongues exploring… this was what Ava had no idea she was missing most during that hellish week when she barely even had the time to talk to Sara. Having the captain close to her always calmed her and unnerved her at the same time, Sara had that effect on people, but what Ava didn't know was that Sara felt the same fire inside her whenever the agent was around.

Both women got lost in the moment, finally reaching the point they were merely fantasizing for so long and the faint pain from the bruises their hands accidentally brushed over even became pleasurable, until small, wet and cold rain drops fell from the grey skies onto their faces.

"We should run back to the Waverider." – Said Ava, pausing their kisses and looking at the dark sky above them that was only getting darker with every minute that passed.

"We can barely walk as it is." – Sara laughed. Being a trained assassin did have its advantages in combat situations, but being possessed by a daemon and shot with a nanomite gun took its toll on her.

"Besides we're already wet." – Sara smirked and even though Ava tried her best not to blush, a faint redness still crept up her neck to her cheeks when she smiled and kissed Sara again, this time without holding back even if her bruised body complained a bit (at first).

That world was still ending, Mallus was still out there, weak but still alive. The Darhks were still probably plotting their next move, they still had no idea what file 354 Z was. Ava still didn't trust Constantine and nobody knew what awaited them or how long they had left to feel the fresh air filling their lungs… but frankly nobody cared, right now, at this very moment it didn't even matter, not when Sara was (finally) kissing her like that and pulling her impossibly closer.

 **The End**

 _AN1: Okay, now that you've finished the story, let's make sure everyone has understood some of the symbology in it. 1. The color purple was basically reserved only for the royals or the gods. 2. Jvno is pronounced as "Juno". 3. Fortuna is the goddess of luck, but Atrox Fortuna is used more like thegodess of "fate". Aaand I think that's it, I'm sorry if you liked Rip, I am just not a big fan of his. Oh and if you want to give me a prompt or something my inbox is always open or if you want to chat on tumblr my name there is the same as here. Again, thanks for sticking with me for this fic!_


	4. Chapter 4

Bonus Chapter: Libiamo ne'lieti calici

AN: Hi guys! Soo here is the bonus chapter I promised you. Now, a few more announcements: 1) Yes, I will turn this into a sequel (no, I don't know how long it will be yet). 2)All prompts you send me are great and will be written, but I will need some time to get to them because work is crazy right now. And for this chapter, we see Ava and Sara two days after Pompeii and up until this point the legends still need to find a couple more totems, so even when the show ends this fic will continue. I hope we get to see more of Jes in the next season of the Legends. Thank you for the support and especially for the comments, you're pretty amazing. Enjoy!

"I still can't believe you convinced me to do this" – Sara grumbled as she finished tightening the deep blue tie around her neck.

"Oh come on, we are fighting Genghis Khan next week like you said you wanted to, but now it was my turn to choose the date." – Ava replied from somewhere opposite in the room.

It was the director's idea to dress separately knowing they would never even make it out of the door if they didn't, the temptation to put her hands on Sara's body and to have the blonde hold her was just too much and after everything that happened in Pompeii just a few days ago, they needed this. The intimacy, the couple – y walks and the sappy date nights that neither would admit secretly loved way more than they'd voice aloud.

"I still can't believe you like this stuff." – Sara said teasing.

"I guess I could always go with Gaia instead, Gods can also travel through time right?" – Ava teased back, remembering how jealous Sara was of the woman originally; back when she still believed that Livia was Gaia and all that.

"Ouch, that was a low blow Director Sharpe, even for you…" – Sara answered with a mock offense covering her heart.

Buttoning up the last buttons of her vest Sara took the frack* hanging from the perch behind her and finally stepped back in the common space of their room, but Ava was still struggling with her clothes behind the second curtain in the room.

"Do you need some help?" – Sara offered with a smug.

"Jesus you need a master's degree to put these clothes on!" – It was Ava's turn to grumble annoyed.

"Bet I can get you out of it pretty quickly." – The captain teased again.

"Sara." – Ava warned with a soft voice and the shorter blonde only nodded in frustration and sat down on the bed with her hands behind her, looking impatiently around the room and waiting. At least she didn't have to wear heels and corset which was certainly much more than Ava could say.

Sara was dressed in white breeches, black flat shoes and white shirt under her navy blue vest that parted in the middle to make room for the silk rivulets that adorned the shirt in the middle. Her frack was also navy blue with golden buttons and the royal navy symbol on them. Of course, the cufflinks matched the buttons, but the design was a knot instead of a rope wrapped around an anchor. Sara's hair was perfectly tied back in a small bun, curtesy of Zari's talents as a hairdresser and not a single hair was out of place. It wasn't even necessary to put too much pins in her hair, the hairspray did wonders for fixating the rebellious locks.

"Aves, my hair is turning white alrea…" – After a few minutes of torturous silence and some struggling sounds from Ava, Sara began talking, but didn't get the chance to finish her sentence because Ava was finally ready and stepped out from behind the dresser.

"You.. I umm just…" – Sara was thinking of hundreds of compliments that raced through her mind, but her lips wouldn't part to speak even one of them, the beauty that was standing in front of her could not be described with any earthly words that could make it justice, so she stared with eyes wide open an a 24k smile on her face.

"So… what do you think?" – Ava finally asked, fiddling with her hands because part of her still felt insecure around Sara and seeing the captain dressed to the nines in that navy suit made her heart flutter.

"You look breathtaking." – Sara said confidently, taking a step closer to Ava, but still not touching her, as if she was scared of ruining such perfection.

"So it was worth the wait?" – Ava teased, suddenly much more confident than mere moments ago.

"I'd say it most definitely was." – Said Sara and looked Ava in the eyes as she took a step closer and finally was face to face with the taller blonde.

Neither was sue if the other was talking about them getting together or just getting dressed for tonight, but it didn't matter for whatever it was, it was _definitely_ worth it.

Ava was still amazed how lucky she got when Sara finally came to her senses and immediately after Pompeii asked her to stay over and try again. The captain had gathered all the courage she had left and Ava was too excited to even consider playing it cool, so she just nodded like a fool and followed Sara to her room on the Waverider.

So, here was Ava now. Standing up, dressed in the most gorgeous long dress anyone could ever imagine, navy blue, matching with Sara's suit, but with small golden leafs all over the dress. The corset was what took Ava so long to tie properly on her own, but she didn't want to spoil the surprise for Sara, so she managed to do it alone.

Her long sleeves were extending a bit past her wrists and even though the fashion dictated that her hair must have been tied up, she had left two locks of curly hair down to frame her face. Ava was wearing a golden v shaped necklace, that followed the leaf pattern of the dress, but since the blue color was a rather dark one, the contrast was very well balanced.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay in tonight?" – Sara asked as she leaned closer and captured Ava's lips, kissing her passionately.

"That's not fair, Lance." – Ava laughed as she felt Sara slowly make her way to her earlobe and then down her neck. Goosebumps covered the director's skin and it wasn't because it was cold. For the first time since Sara saw her in that dress she allowed herself to touch her. At first she was only softly pulling her hips closer, but soon her hands began to wander and explore. Ava's body was covered from head to toe, but she looked sexy as hell and Sara barely stopped herself from ripping apart that dress then and there.

"Fuck this, we're on a time ship after all." – Ava finally gave up and pushed Sara back on the bed, and when this time the captain reached for Ava's corset she didn't slapped her hands away, she welcomed them.

The two women got lost into each other, the tender bites, the delicate touches, the rough kisses, the soft moans, the occasional (un)intentional scratch, the gentle pull of a hair… both women enjoyed moving in unison, discovering new ways to make the other scream in pleasure.

"I could kill for a glass of water." – Sara said as she finally collapsed on her bed, still hot and sweaty.

"Yeah? Bring me one as well." – Ava took advantage of the opportunity, she wasn't even sure she could move right now, her head was still spinning from the ecstasy she had just experienced.

"You're lucky I like you Aves." – Sara laughed and leaned in for a kiss.

Walking in the kitchen a metallic clatter caught her attention, making Sara lift her left eyebrow wandering what was happening in there.

"Shhh!" – Someone shushed rather loudly and someone else just giggled, but Sara still wasn't sure who it was.

"If we get caught Captain Lance would send us to the cretaceous period." – Gary said trying to keep his voice down, but it was still obvious he was _trying_ to suppress a moan.

"We better hurry then. Come on lad, grab that bottle of syrup and let's get this party started." – Constantine laughed and leaned for a quick peck on Gary's cheek. Every time the brit did that, the agent still got all flustered and happy, so Constantine had to grab the plate of pancakes Gideon had just made for them and wait for Gary to catch up at the door.

In that moment, Sara was infinitely thankful for the time she spent with the league of assassins, learning how to move as silently as a mouse she quickly ran to the end of the hallway and hid behind the turn. After all facing them would only be awkward for all three of them (especially when Sara's hair was messily falling down her shoulders and a hickey was starting to get visible on her collarbone, and the boys were only wearing their underwear). Sara no doubt would've had to endure hours and hours of teasing afterwards from Constantine, so the blonde just waited until the giggling went quickly in the other direction and somewhere on the ship a door was slammed.

"Hey, I was about to send rescue." – Ava joked as Sara entered the room with a bottle of water in her hands.

"Ha - ha. Just for that I'm not telling you what I saw." – Sara teased, knowing Ava's curiosity would eventually surface.

"Oh come on." – Ava wined and Sara smirked, she wasn't wrong about the curiosity.

"You know that the curiosity killed the cat right?" – Sara aske as she came closer to the bed.

"But the cat died knowing, besides cats have six more lives so…" – Ava began rationalizing, but Sara cut her mid-sentence with a kiss, not letting Ava worry her mind with semantics when they could be doing much more interesting stuff.

"Relax that beautiful mind of your, just for once." – Sara sat on the bed and handed Ava the bottle of water.

"I can't stop thinking about that file Rip ordered Gideon to delete." - Ava said seriously after her literal thirst was satisfied.

"Hey, no, stop." – Sara said and sat closer to Ava stroking her cheek again, gently guiding their eyes to meet, this had become a gesture of extreme comfort and reassurance for the both of them.

"We'll know more when Zari manages to recuperate the file, until then we said we wouldn't overthink it." – Sara tried to calm the taller blonde.

"I can't help but have a bad feeling about all this." – Ava sighed.

"Look, whatever it is…" – Sara began talking and took Ava's hand in hers.

"We'll deal with it together. I will be right by your side and no one in their right mind would want to take on the rest of the Legends." – Sara said and Ava laughed.

"I didn't know you could be so positive miss Lance." – Ava teased.

"I sure as hell refuse to be negative when I have the most beautiful woman in the world right in front of me." – Sara reassured her and Ava blushed, tugging a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"Mallus is still out there." – The director spoke after a brief pause.

"And with the Darhks out of the way, for now at least, we'll get the rest of the totems and banish him for good." – Sara spoke again.

"Do you think Nora is alive?" – Ava asked incredulous.

"Probably. She'll need a lot of time to recover though, so that definitely gives us a head start, but with Damien's magic I'm sure our paths will cross again." – Sara said.

"However, until then…" – The Captain began talking again, but her lips found Ava's and all thoughts disappeared from their minds.

"Don't think I've pardoned your distractions Miss Lance." – Ava teased.

"Ah no? Hmm… I must try harder then." – Sara smirked and kissed Ava, kissing away the traces of cold water on her lips.

"I promise you, we'll go tomorrow night. No distractions." – Sara said seriously and Ava smiled.

"Deal, but you're taking me to see the opening night of La Traviata even if you end up sleeping throughout the entire opera." – Ava joked and there wasn't a lot of talking for the rest of the night after that.

Of course, Sara ended taking Ava to the opera and opposite to what she thought before, she made it wide awake during the performance and even secretly enjoyed it. Besides, exploring midnight 1853 Venice with your girlfriend had its advantages…

 _END of part one._

AN1: Oh the title of the chapter is a famous duet with chorus from Verdi's La traviata (I can't recommend enough this opera, it's beyond perfect). I've tried to do justice to the 1800 fashion with the frack Sara's wearing, but still don't take the part about the clothes too seriously.


End file.
